In the face of mass protests from students, members of the Jefferson County school board majority Wednesday defended a proposed curriculum committee and called it misunderstood, while signaling the most criticized elements are likely to be cut.

The proposed panel has emerged as the largest point of disagreement yet in the state’s second-largest school district, a perennially high academic achiever that saw a conservative, reform-minded board majority voted in 10 months ago.

Like the election last November of three Republican board candidates who ran as a slate, the curriculum controversy is also an example of partisan politics playing a greater role in public education — in this case, involving a charged debate about changes in how Advanced Placement students are learning American history.

Williams’ proposal calls for instructional material presenting “positive aspects” of U.S. heritage that “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.”

Materials should not, it says, “encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.”

The board tabled the idea at its meeting last week, and significant cuts have been proposed by one of Williams’ conservative board allies.

“What exactly are they trying to accomplish?” said Julia Brunner, a parent of two children in Jefferson County schools. “To me, it did seem like it was trying to scrub the material — teaching children what to think instead of how to think.”

Board chairman Ken Witt said the idea was never to remove slavery from history courses, as some high school students have said at protests this week.

“It’s a shame we see kids on the streets instead of in classrooms,” he said. “It is never OK to use kids as pawns, and it’s exactly what I think is happening here. And I’m disappointed in the actors in this — the union message coming down through the teachers to get kids to deliberately get out and protest something they don’t have any facts about whatsoever.”

The committee would first turn its attention to Advanced Placement history, which Witt said was appropriate because the course was significantly rewritten and is being introduced this year.

The new U.S. history course framework is meant to focus on examination of historical documents for more critical thinking. It also puts a greater emphasis on slavery and American Indian issues.

The College Board — the overseer of Advanced Placement courses, which students can take for college credit — has said revisions are planned. New instructions, it said, will make clear that teachers aren’t being told not to teach about the Founding Fathers and other subjects.

Witt said Jefferson County’s proposed curriculum committee is not censorship.

“It’s a wonderful word to incite kids to get out on the street,” he said. “The irony is this is exactly the opposite of censorship. It’s trying to get the community and parents more aware of curriculum being taught in Jefferson County.”

John Ford, president of Jefferson County Education Association, the teachers union, said it was “insulting” to suggest teachers are using students as pawns. Plenty of avenues exist to review curriculum already, he said.

Jefferson County’s resource review committee, formed in 1997, is to include a “balance of citizens and educators” selected by the chief academic officer or designee and district leadership. Williams’ proposal differs in that the board would appoint members.

John Newkirk, part of the board majority, said he supports the committee idea but proposed stripping out the controversial language about what material is appropriate, “to make it less a directive.”

“I would oppose any types of efforts to whitewash history or make revisionist, politically correct history,” Newkirk said. “We need to study the entire American history — good, bad and ugly, warts and all.”

Newkirk said Williams has indicated she will accept his suggestions. Williams could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Even with the proposed changes, the resolution is “deeply troubling,” said Lesley Dahlkemper, part of the board’s two-member minority.

“Our students deserve an unvarnished view of history,” she said. “We’re preparing them to be critical thinkers, strong communicators and to compete in a global economy. It’s unclear to me what problem this resolution is attempting to solve — other than pushing through a political agenda.”

Stephanie Rossi, an AP history teacher at Wheat Ridge High School, said she is insulted by the assumption she and her colleagues are teaching students to be unpatriotic. The framework, she said, is simply that — something to guide instruction.

“No one has visited any of our classrooms to find out what we are doing,” she said. “Come into the classroom. Have a conversation with us.”

More in News

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday called off next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, calling the cancellation a "tremendous setback" for peace and stressing that the US military was ready to respond to any "foolish or reckless acts" by the North.

House advocates for moderate immigration policies stood at the cusp of forcing votes on bills that would give young undocumented immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship - even as President Donald Trump threatened to veto any legislation that did not hew to his hard-line views.